Apple Inc., the American multinational corporation known worldwide for its line of Mac computers, has to face a legal battle again in China for claiming that the patent of  a Shanghai designed intelligent robot is invalid.

This new case involves Siri, Apple's digital assistant on iPhones, which follows voice commands.

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The first hearing of the case, which was held at an Intermediate People's Court in Beijing on Thursday morning, drew the attention of no less than 100 residents of the city which included IT enthusiasts and media.

Apple's Siri was introduced in China in 2010, but the Shanghai company disputes that the function of Siri bears a very strong similarity to the function of the intelligent robot it developed and got a patent for in 2004.

The said Shanghai-developed robot has been used in cellphones and by telecom companies including China Unicom and China Mobile.

The Shanghai-based company sued Apple last year for infringement of their robot's intellectual property right.  The case, however, has not reached a final resolution.

Apple had requested for a review of the robot's patent by the State Intellectual Property Office with the hope that the patent will be proven to be invalid. The authority's review, however, proved that the patent was valid.

In Thursday's hearing, Apple's lawyers, Fu Jianjun and Kang Jianzhong, contended that Siri is not the same as the robot which is primarily used for games. Apple's counsels also requested the court to ask the authority for a withdrawal of their lawsuit.

Yuan Yang, the Shanghai company's attorney, declined the request arguing that the robot and Siri have marked similarities and that the robot was introduced years prior to Siri's promotion.

Apple has accused Chinese companies of infringing on Apple's intellectual property rights in the past.  This time, the tables are turned, as Apple is now being accused of infringement of intellectual property rights.

Yuan said that similar cases will surface more frequently in the future as more Chinese companies attempt to protect their intellectual property rights.